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necessary as articulate speech. It is indispensable to civilization. It is the
art of each race that gives its civilization its distinct character and rhythm.
It reflects, if it does not actually condition, the whole manner of life of a
nation or period. Life and art are closely, inseparably interwoven, but life
passes--the life of individuals and the life of nations--and art remains. It
is the only thing that is permanent; and our knowledge of the past, of civili-
zations that have flourished and disappeared, is derived almost entirely from
the fragmentary relics of their art. It is not from printed books that we
visualize and form our estimate of the life, culture and character of ancient
Egypt, Assyria, Greece or Rome, but from the ruined buildings, carved
stones, half-decayed bronzes, fragments of pottery, frescoed walls, personal
adornments and household objects dug out of the ground by the excavator's
spade, which are of far greater and more lasting significance than the transi-
tory effects of great wars and revolutionary political changes. History be-
comes a living reality to us through art. Without it, it would be a dead
letter. Above all, art brings pure pleasure into the humblest life. It is a
source of exaltation that raises us above the sordid realities of everyday exist-
ence. Without art, life would be intolerable, inconceivable. The human
imagination requires food as imperiously as the human body, and art is the
inexhaustible spring from which our imagination draws sustenance.


PHOTOGRAPHIC ART

THE MODERN TENDENCY in photography in the hands of both amateur and
professional exponents is to employ the camera as a means of artistic expres-
sion. No consideration is being taken here of the widespread applications
of photography in scientific and technical directions. It is more in reference
to its position in the realms of art that this article is written. The appeal
to the eye is greater than the appeal to the emotions through any other
sense, and in this respect photography occupies a unique position as a
maker of pictures. Many thousands of individuals are producing photo-
graphs, with the ulterior object of their appeal to the eye as pictorial repre-

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Publication Information: Book Title: Graphic Arts. Contributors: The Encyclopedia Britannica - orgname. Publisher: Garden City Publishing. Place of Publication: Garden City, NY. Publication Year: 1936. Page Number: 257.
    
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